Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T14:17:27.584Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Snow and Rain Modify Neighbourhood Walkability for Older Adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2017

Philippa Clarke Open the ORCID record for Philippa Clarke [Opens in a new window] ,
Jana A. Hirsch ,
Robert Melendez ,
Meghan Winters ,
Joanie Sims Gould ,
Maureen Ashe ,
Sarah Furst  and
Heather McKay
Philippa Clarke*
Affiliation:
Institute for Social Research, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan
Jana A. Hirsch
Affiliation:
Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Robert Melendez
Affiliation:
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
Meghan Winters
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
Joanie Sims Gould
Affiliation:
Centre for Hip Health and Mobility and Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia
Maureen Ashe
Affiliation:
Centre for Hip Health and Mobility and Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia
Sarah Furst
Affiliation:
Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, University of British Columbia
Heather McKay
Affiliation:
Centre for Hip Health and Mobility and Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia
*
†La correspondance et les demandes de tire-à-part doivent être adressées à : / Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to: Philippa J. Clarke, Ph.D. Institute for Social Research University of Michigan 426 Thompson Street Ann Arbor, MI 48104 <[email protected]>
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The literature has documented a positive relationship between walkable built environments and outdoor mobility in older adults. Yet, surprisingly absent is any consideration of how weather conditions modify the impact of neighbourhood walkability. Using archived weather data linked to survey data collected from a sample of older adults in Vancouver, Canada, we found that car-dependent neighbourhoods (featuring longer block lengths, fewer intersections, and greater distance to amenities) became inaccessible in snow. Even older adults who lived in very walkable neighbourhoods walked to 25 per cent fewer destinations in snow. It is crucial to consider the impact of weather in the relationship between neighbourhood walkability and older adult mobility.

Résumé

La littérature a documenté une relation positive entre la mobilité à l’extérieur chez les personnes âgées et les environnements bâtisables et marchables. Cependant, étonnamment, toute considération de la façon dont le temps modifie l’accessibilité piétonnière à travers les quartiers est absente. À Vancouver, au Canada, on a utilisé des données météorologiques archivées liées à des données recueillies auprès d’un échantillon d’aînés. On a constaté que, lorsqu’il neige, les quartiers où l’on dépend d’automobiles (comportant des blocs plus longs, moins d’intersections et une plus grande distance aux commodités) sont devenus inaccessibles. Même les adultes plus âgés qui vivaient dans les quartiers qui étaient très bien adaptés au traffic pietonnier marchait à 25 pour cent moins de destinations pendant la neige. Il est essentiel de tenir compte de l’impact des conditions météorologiques dans la relation entre la marchabilité des quartiers et la mobilité des personnes âgées.

Keywords

agingmobilityneighbourhoodwalkabilityweathersnowvieillissementmobilitéquartiermobilitémarchabilitémétéoneige
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , June 2017 , pp. 159 - 169
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant 117651, AAM-108607. Jana Hirsch received support from the Population Research Training grant (T32 HD007168) and the Population Research Infrastructure Program (R24 HD050924) awarded to the Carolina Population Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Career award support for Maureen Ashe came from the CIHR and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

References

Berg, W. P., Alessio, H. M., Mills, E. M., & Tong, C. (1997). Circumstances and consequences of falls in independent community-dwelling older adults. Age and Ageing, 26(4), 261–268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chudyk, A. M., Winters, M., Moniruzzaman, M., Ashe, M. C., Gould, J. S., & McKay, H. (2015). Destinations matter: The association between where older adults live and their travel behavior. Journal of Transport & Health, 2(1), 50–57.Google Scholar
Clarke, P., Ailshire, J. A., Bader, M., Morenoff, J. D., & House, J. S. (2008). Mobility disability and the urban built environment. American Journal of Epidemiology, 168(5), 506–513.Google Scholar
Clarke, P. J., Yan, T., Keusch, F., & Gallagher, N. A. (2015). The impact of weather on mobility and participation in older US adults. American Journal of Public Health, 105(7), 1489–1494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Environment Canada. (n.d.). 1971-2000 climate normals & averages. Retrieved from http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/index_e.html Google Scholar
Frank, L., Kerr, J., Rosenberg, D., & King, A. (2010). Healthy aging and where you live: Community design relationships with physical activity and body weight in older Americans. Journal of physical activity & health, 7(1), S82–S90.Google Scholar
Fried, L. P., Bandeen-Roche, K., Chaves, P. H. M., & Johnson, B. A. (2000). Preclinical mobility disability predicts incident mobility disability in older women. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 55(1), M43–M52.Google Scholar
Gallagher, N., Clarke, P., Loveland-Cherry, C., Ronis, D., Nyquist, L., & Gretebeck, K. (2012). Environmental and psychosocial influences on neighborhood walking in older adults with and without mobility limitations. Research in Gerontological Nursing, 5, 238–250.Google Scholar
Gallagher, N., Gretebeck, K., Robinson, J., Torres, E., Murphy, S., & Martyn, K. (2010). Neighborhood factors relevant for walking in older, urban, African American adults. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 18(1), 99–115.Google Scholar
Gauvin, L., Richard, L., Kestens, Y., Shatenstein, B., Daniel, M., Moore, S. D., … Payette, H. (2012). Living in a well-serviced urban area is associated with maintenance of frequent walking among seniors in the VoisiNuAge study. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67B(1), 76–88. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbr134 Google Scholar
Gill, T. M. (2010). Assessment of function and disability in longitudinal studies. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 58, S308–S312.Google Scholar
Glass, T. A., Rasmussen, M. D., & Schwartz, B. S. (2006). Neighborhoods and obesity in older adults: The Baltimore memory study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 31(6), 455–463.Google Scholar
Guralnik, J. M. (1993). Maintaining mobility in late life. I. Demographic characteristics and chronic conditions. American Journal of Epidemiology, 137(8), 845–857.Google Scholar
Guralnik, J. M., Ferrucci, L., Simonsick, E. M., Salive, M. E., & Wallace, R. B. (1995). Lower-extremity function in persons over the age of 70 years as a predictor of subsequent disability. The New England Journal of Medicine, 332(9), 556–561.Google Scholar
Guralnik, J. M., Simonsick, E. M., Ferrucci, L., Glynn, R. J., Berkman, L., Blazer, D. G., … Wallace, R. B. (1994). A short physical performance battery assessing lower extremity function: association with self-reported disability and prediction of mortality and nursing home admission. Journal of Gerontology, 49(2), M85–M94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanson, H. M., Schiller, C., Winters, M., Sims-Gould, J., Clarke, P., Curran, E., … McKay, H. A. (2013). Concept mapping applied to the intersection between older adults’ outdoor walking and the built and social environments. Preventive Medicine, 57(6), 785–791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Health Canada, Division of Childhood and Adolescence. (2002). Natural and Built Environments. Ottawa, ON: Author.Google Scholar
Hirsch, J. A., Moore, K. A., Evenson, K. R., Rodriguez, D. A., & Roux, A. V. D. (2013). Walk score® and transit score® and walking in the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 45(2), 158–166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirvensalo, M., Rantanen, T., & Heikkinen, E. (2000). Mobility difficulties and physical activity as predictors of mortality and loss of independence in the community-living older population. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 48(5), 493–498.Google Scholar
King, A. C., Castro, C., Wilcox, S., Eyler, A. A., Sallis, J. F., & Brownson, R. C. (2000). Personal and environmental factors associated with physical inactivity among different racial–ethnic groups of U.S. middle-aged and older-aged women. Health Psychology, 19(4), 354–364.Google Scholar
King, A. C., Sallis, J. F., Frank, L. D., Saelens, B. E., Cain, K., Conway, T. L., … Kerr., J. (2011). Aging in neighborhoods differing in walkability and income: Associations with physical activity and obesity in older adults. Social Science & Medicine, 73(10), 1525–1533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
King, W. C., Belle, S. H., Brach, J. S., Simkin-Silverman, L. R., Soska, T., & Kriska, A. M. (2005). Objective measures of neighborhood environment and physical activity in older women. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 28(5), 461–469.Google Scholar
Kohut, A., Keeter, S., Doherty, C., Dimock, M., & Christian, L. (2012). Assessing the representativeness of public opinion surveys. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.Google Scholar
Li, F., Harmer, P. A., Cardinal, B. J., Bosworth, M., Acock, A., Johnson-Shelton, D., & Moore, J. M. (2008). Built environment, adiposity, and physical activity in adults aged 50–75. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 35(1), 38–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, W., Keegan, T. H. M., Sternfeld, B., Sidney, S., Quesenberry, C. P. Jr., & Kelsey, J. L. (2006). Outdoor falls among middle-aged and older adults: A neglected public health problem. American Journal of Public Health, 96(7), 1192–1200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, Y., Hsu, J., & Fernie, G. (2013). Aging and the use of pedestrian facilities in winter—The need for improved design and better technology. Journal of Urban Health, 90(4), 602–617.Google Scholar
Li, Y., Hsu, J., & Fernie, G. R. (2010). Winter accessibility survey results: Inadequate consideration of weather elements in the development of pedestrian facilities. Gerontechnology, 9(2), 301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michael, Y., Beard, T., Choi, D., Farquhar, S., & Carlson, N. (2006). Measuring the influence of built neighborhood environments on walking in older adults. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 14, 302–312.Google Scholar
Michael, Y. L., Keast, E. M., Chaudhury, H., Day, K., Mahmood, A., & Sarte, A. F. I. (2009). Revising the senior walking environmental assessment tool. Preventive Medicine, 48(3), 247–249.Google Scholar
Nagel, C. L., Carlson, N. E., Bosworth, M., & Michael, Y. L. (2008). The relation between neighborhood built environment and walking activity among older adults. American Journal of Epidemiology, 168(4), 461–468.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nasreddine, Z. S., Phillips, N. A., Bédirian, V., Charbonneau, S., Whitehead, V., Collin, I., … Chertkow, H. (2005). The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 53(4), 695–699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patla, A., & Shumway-Cook, A. (1999). Dimensions of mobility: Defining the complexity and difficulty associated with community mobility. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 7, 7–19.Google Scholar
Patterson, P. K., & Chapman, N. J. (2004). Urban form and older residents’ service use, walking, driving, quality of life, and neighborhood satisfaction. American Journal of Health Promotion, 19, 45–52.Google Scholar
Perry, T. E. (2014). Seasonal variation and homes: Understanding the social experiences of older adults. Care Management Journals, 15(1), 3–10.Google Scholar
Rantakokko, M., Iwarsson, S., Kauppinen, M., Leinonen, R., Heikkinen, E., & Rantanen, T. (2010). Quality of life and barriers in the urban outdoor environment in old age. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 58(11), 2154–2159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rodríguez, D. A., Evenson, K. R., Diez Roux, A. V., & Brines, S. J. (2009). Land use, residential density, and walking: The multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 37(5), 397–404.Google Scholar
Rosso, A. L., Auchincloss, A. H., & Michael, Y. L. (2011). The urban built environment and mobility in older adults: A comprehensive review. Journal of Aging Research, 2011, 10. doi: 10.4061/2011/816106 Google Scholar
Rosso, A. L., Grubesic, T. H., Auchincloss, A. H., Tabb, L. P., & Michael, Y. L. (2013). Neighborhood amenities and mobility in older adults. American Journal of Epidemiology, 178(5), 761–769.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryser, L., & Halseth, G. (2008). Institutional barriers to incorporating climate responsive design in commercial redevelopment. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 35(1), 34–55.Google Scholar
Saelens, B. E., Sallis, J. F., Black, J. B., & Chen, D. (2003). Neighborhood-based differences in physical activity: An environment scale evaluation. American Journal of Public Health, 93(9), 1552–1558.Google Scholar
Shumway-Cook, A., Patla, A., Stewart, A., Ferrucci, L., Ciol, M. A., & Guralnik, J. M. (2003). Environmental components of mobility disability in community-living older persons. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 51(3), 393–398.Google Scholar
Simonsick, E. M., Guralnik, J. M., Volpato, S., Balfour, J., & Fried, L. P. (2005). Just Get Out the Door! Importance of Walking Outside the Home for Maintaining Mobility: Findings from the Women’s Health and Aging Study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 53(2), 198–203.Google Scholar
Srinivasan, S., O’Fallon, L. R., & Dearry, A. (2003). Creating healthy communities, healthy homes, healthy people: Initiating a research agenda on the built environment and public health. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 1446–1450.Google Scholar
Tadano, S., Tsukada, A., Shibano, J.-i., Ukai, T., & Watanuki, Y. (1998). Driving tests and computer simulations of electric wheelchairs on snow-covered roads. JSME International Journal. Series C, Mechanical Systems, Machine Elements and Manufacturing, 41(1), 68–75.Google Scholar
Verbrugge, L. M., & Jette, A. M. (1994). The disablement process. Social Science and Medicine, 38, 1–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webber, S. C., Porter, M. M., & Menec, V. H. (2010). Mobility in older adults: A comprehensive framework. The Gerontologist, 50(4), 443–450.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1998). Life in the 21st century–A vision for all. The World Health Report. Geneva, CHE: Author.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2001). International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. Geneva, CHE. Author. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/classifications/icf/en/ Google Scholar